FORCE SURPRISED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 109, 11 May 1931, Page 8

FORCE SURPRISED

A POLICEMAN’S DUTY LONDON, March 5. The suspension of a young city policeman for not saluting a highly-placed official in mufti while the constable was engaged on point duty at a busy traffic spot has caused considerable surprise in the City of London Police Force. The suspended policeman is an unmarried man, attached to the Moor Lane Police Station. He was, on Friday afternoon last, posted at the junction of Old Jewry, Coleman Street, and Gresham Street — three busy city thoroughfares through which endless streams of traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, pass throughout the day. The constable was hard at work regulating and directing these streams of traffic when this highly-placed official of the force walked across the road. The official was in civilian attire, and is said to have passed unnoticed—at any rate, the constable did not spring to attention and salute. The officer called out sternly, “Constable, follow me!”

The young policeman was astonished to recognise that the order came from one of the highest officials of the force, and he left his post immediately and followed the official to the headquarters of the City Police in Old Jewry. The poliv.cf.au was reported for not saluting his superior officer, and suspended from duty.